


A Mask of Lies

by Campion



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Anxiety, Comfort/Angst, Crying Oikawa Tooru, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Angst, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Fluff, M/M, Panic Attacks, Sickfic, Tears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:04:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5314214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Campion/pseuds/Campion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short stories about Oikawa and Iwaizumi.<br/>Chapter 1: Oikawa gets sick and tries really hard not to be.  Iwaizumi catches on way too quickly.<br/>Chapter 2: Oikawa overworks himself and then has a mysterious nightmare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just thought I'd write out how I'd expect Oikawa to act if he was sick, and how Iwaizumi would respond to it.

Tooru Oikawa woke up with the kind of powerful headache that made him feel like a tiny alien had invaded his head for the sole purpose of tugging the wires in his brain around to cause as much pain as possible. For all of about two minutes, he didn’t move. Then he rolled to his side, curled up into a ball, and sneezed with so much momentum that he thought his mind would shatter.

  
Time for school.

  
If he wanted to eat before leaving the house, he’d have to get up now. But Oikawa felt much more inclined to sleep for another 15 minutes instead. That, combined with the fact that he elected to neglect his hair for the day, gave him another 45 minutes of sleep before his alarm shattered his eardrums for the second time that morning.

  
Thankfully, the second time he woke up, his headache had calmed just enough for him to feel anxious about actually getting to school on time.

  
“Tooru!” The small voice shouted at him was accompanied by the sound of small feet running through the house. Shit, he thought. He’d totally forgotten about the fact that he’d taken over the responsibility of getting his nephew to school as well.

  
“Tooru?” The child had probably expected to find him in the kitchen finishing breakfast as usual.

“Hang on, Takeru, I’ll be out in a bit!” Oikawa shouted, and then frantically changed into his school uniform. Just in time, too, since the little devil came flying into his room just as he clasped his belt shut. The sight of his eight-year-old nephew standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips elicited a sheepish smile from Oikawa.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m running a teensy bit behind today, but don’t worry, we’ll get there-“

“Tooru Oikawa,” the little boy said, crossing his arms across his chest with far more dignity and indignance than any grade schooler should ever possess. “Don’t lie to me. You’re sick, aren’t you?”

Oikawa’s mouth was still hanging open as he nodded at the child. Takeru frowned sternly, and Oikawa waved his hands in front of him frantically as if to stave off his concern.

“Don’t worry, Takeru, it’s just a little cold! Not gonna stop someone as strong as me!”

His nephew scrutinized him for a minute, and then turned away with a huff.

“Well, I suppose that it’s alright to go to school with a cold. But you’d better not get me sick, too!”

Oikawa grinned. “You’d better be good today, or I’ll sneeze on you!”

Takeru straightened up and shot his uncle a glare before walking out the door, knowing that Oikawa would follow him.

“Hey, Takeru, how’d you know I was sick, anyway?” Oikawa’s headache was making him a bit slow, but he still had enough frame of mind to realize that if Takeru noticed, Iwaizumi certainly would, too.

Takeru’s face scrunched up. “You’ve got snot all over you’re face, dumbass.”

“Wha- seriously, Takeru?” Oikawa rubbed his arm across his face and was disgusted by the amount of dried snot that came off. He’d forgotten to clean himself up before going back to sleep this morning. “Eew. Why would you not tell me that immediately? And don’t say words like dumbass.”

“Because it made you look like a baby and it was funny. And why shouldn’t I? You and Iwa-chan do.”

“That’s… so childish! And that’s because we’re older than you.”

Takeru huffed, and stuck up his nose before mumbling, “ _I’m_ childish? ‘Cause you sure don’t act like you’re older than me.”

Oikawa ignored that last comment and just snickered a bit. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that the tickle in his throat became overpowering, and he had to struggle to remain upright during a coughing fit. When he was able to breathe again, Takeru was looking up at him with fear.

“Tooru, are you really sick?” He asked. Oikawa laughed.

“Of course not! The Great Tooru never gets sick!” He shouted, sticking his tongue out at Takeru, who was immediately taken in by his bravado and excitedly pointed at him.

“See? You act more like a kid than I do!”

“Ha ha ha! You just aren’t on the same level as I am, yet, Takeru, but maybe one day you’ll understand how amazing I am!”

And with that, the Great Tooru nudged his nephew into the building that was their destination.

“Bye, Tooru!” Takeru shouted as his teacher led him away from the doorway.

“Bye, Takeru!” Oikawa shouted. As soon as his nephew disappeared around a corner, Oikawa doubled over in another fit of coughs. It was going to be a long day.

The fact that he had to run to school was nothing out of the ordinary - it was only about a mile away from the elementary school, anyway - but when he got there Oikawa nearly passed out. He had to sit down in the grass for a minute - or five - to catch his breath and feel confident that he wasn’t going to pass out in class.  Despite his efforts, he was almost a half hour late to class, simply because he’d been slower than normal today. The teacher glared at him for far longer than necessary after giving him a tardy slip, and it took all of his energy to force his normal charming smile onto his face in return.

Oikawa struggled to stay awake the entire morning, and was impressed with himself when the bell rang for lunch and he still hadn’t nodded off. Instead of going to the cafeteria to meet Iwaizumi like he normally did, he laid his head on his desk in an effort to sleep, now that he had a chance. This only made him realize that the reason he was able to stay awake in the first place was because he was so congested that sleep was near-impossible. Oikawa resisted the urge to groan as the smell of lunch filled the room.

“Oi, Oikawa, what are you doing? The whole team is waiting to have lunch-” Iwaizumi had run into the room with his fist itching to knock some sense into his lazy best friend, but when he saw how run-down he looked, he couldn’t bring himself to lay a finger on him. “Hey, are you okay?”

Oikawa was most certainly not okay. But he couldn’t let Iwaizumi know that, when the whole reason he’d come to school in the first place was to attend practice afterwards. He tried to give Iwaizumi a sheepish look.

“I stayed up late studying,” he wiggled his eyes, to imply that he was definitely not studying. “So I’m just tired.”  
  
Iwaizumi scowled, and for a moment Oikawa thought he’d succeeded, but when his friend still didn’t punch him, he knew he wasn’t yet in the clear.

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Oikawa said, pushing his friend out of the classroom and closer to the source of the fragrance of fries and grease that made his stomach churn.  
  
Still wary, Iwaizumi scowled and kept an eye on Oikawa for the first ten minutes of lunch, and Oikawa was sure to shovel down a hamburger and some fries like normal, but soon their teammates got rowdy, and, as usual, Iwaizumi took it upon himself to make sure that they didn’t disturb the people around them.

Which was fortunate, because it gave Oikawa a chance to bolt while his friend was distracted. Stumbling, he went straight to the bathroom and crashed into one of the stalls, falling to his knees and breathing heavily. Saliva gathered on his tongue and he leaned over the toilet. His stomach lurched and he coughed violently, squeezing his eyes shut as pain shot through his head.

He moaned at the pain in his stomach and the fact that only spit dribbled out of his mouth. Oikawa hated being sick. He wanted this to be done as soon as possible, so that he could feel better. But it took another couple of dry heaves before he was able to expel anything. And then he couldn’t stop until all of his lunch was gone.

Afterwards, he sank to the ground weakly. For a moment he just sat there, trying to catch his breath. Then he coughed and hung his head over the toilet again. His stomach was empty, though, and he didn’t feel better at all.

Resigned to feeling like crap the whole day, Oikawa flushed the toilet and stood up just in time.

“Oikawa? You okay?” It was Iwaizumi. Oikawa scowled. His best friend was sharp. Too sharp.

Oikawa left his stall with an attempted saunter and grinned at Iwaizumi as he washed his hands. “Of course. But I have a test to study for, so I’m heading back to the classroom after this. See you at practice, Iwa-chan!”

Iwaizumi scowled suspiciously, but as it was indeed probable that Oikawa had a test to study for, he just watched him leave.

“Don’t come to practice if you’re sick, dumbass,” he mumbled under his breath, taking note of the way Oikawa seemed to be a bit unsteady on his feet, but acknowledging that until he could prove that Oikawa was sick, there wasn’t much he could do.

Oikawa spent the rest of the school day attempting to stay hydrated and as motionless as possible in an attempt to conserve energy for practice and to calm his stomach. Iwaizumi spent the rest of the school day worrying about his best friend and cursing the team for not allowing him to go check on him sooner during lunch.

They were both relieved when the end of the day bell rang and it was time to practice.

The two of them reached the gym at the same time - about 10 minutes early. Oikawa grinned at Iwaizumi, though he felt like scowling at his scrutinizing gaze, and Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa, though he felt like giving him a hug. He looked awful. But he’d never admit it himself, and Iwaizumi needed him to.

“Hey, Shitty-kawa, you’d better not be sick.”

“Of course not, Iwa-chan, I’m a healthy boy!” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, and was about to yell at him for being too reckless with his own body, but the coach interrupted them.

“Hope you guys are ready for a tough practice today!” He laughed and clapped the both of them on the back, oblivious to the speck of alarm in Oikawa’s eyes and the intensified concern in Iwaizumi’s. In sync as always, they recovered at the same time.

“I’m not sure-“ Iwaizumi started to say with wide eyes.

“Sounds great, coach!” Oikawa practically shouted, grinning at the fact that he’d overpowered Iwaizumi, whose glare returned immediately.

The coach laughed and nodded to them with a smile before walking to the middle of the gym where the rest of the team was gathering. Oikawa followed, pointedly avoiding making eye-contact with his vice-captain as he did so.

“Alright, we’re starting today with a five-mile run!” The coach instructed. Oikawa had to suppress a groan. That would explain why the coach was in such high spirits. He loved making them run.

Fortunately, Oikawa was feeling better than before, and thought he could pull it off. However, it became clear at about a mile in that he was slowly falling to the back of the pack. His feet were slowing against his will, and his breathing was becoming alarmingly quick. His head suddenly started to feel light, and his eyes began to droop shut.

They sprung open in alarm when a hand latched on to his wrist and tugged him off of the trail and into the woods, and Oikawa wondered if he was being kidnapped.  He tried to resist, but a hand clamped over his mouth, and Oikawa was in too weak a state to escape the strong grip.

“Stop that,” a familiar voice instructed, soft, but stern. Oikawa’s stomach dropped in more ways than one. He doubled over, and Iwaizumi released him as Oikawa coughed and then vomited. Iwaizumi helped hold him up while rubbing soft circles on his back. He winced every time he felt Oikawa’s stomach muscles tense up, and when the dry-heaving continued, Iwaizumi’s stomach started to ache in pity.

“Hey, calm down,” he tried to sooth his friend. “Just breathe slowly, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Tooru, please,” Iwaizumi’s voice cracked on his friend’s name. He hated to see him in so much pain. Finally, he felt the boy in his arms relax, and suddenly had to hold him up.

Fear shot through him at the dead weight in his arms. “Tooru!”

Oikawa held up a hand to reassure his friend that he was still present. He felt Iwaizumi’s sigh of relief.

“Don’t scare me like that, dumbass,” Iwaizumi said as he sank to the ground. He lowered Oikawa’s head into his lap.

“Sorry,” Oikawa’s said, voice cracking due to his raw throat. He coughed, and couldn’t hold back a whimper from the pain.

“Just tell me next time when you’re sick.”

Oikawa nodded slowly, and suddenly tears leaked from his eyes.

“Tooru!” Iwaizumi moaned. Sounding like he was near tears, too, he said, “please don’t cry.”

Oikawa sniffled and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands in a way that really did make him look like an overgrown baby. “Sorry, Iwa-chan, I’m sorry” he said, miserably. Iwaizumi’s heart clenched.

“Alright,” he said, in his usual demanding tone. “We’re going to get you home.”

“Ah-“ Oikawa began to protest, but Iwaizumi had already picked him up bridal style. He looked at his friend in surprise.

“What? You think I’m too weak to carry you?” He smirked, but acknowledged that, though they’d run towards Oikawa’s house, they still had a ways to go.

“It’s just - I’m pretty heavy, you know?” Oikawa said.

“As if!” Iwaizumi laughed, though he quickened his pace a bit. A few minutes of silence passed, and then Oikawa spoke up again.

“Iwa-chan,” he moaned.

“What is it? Do you feel sick again?” Iwaizumi’s concern spiked.

“No. Actually, I can walk now. Put me down, Iwa-chan.”

“Are you sure?”

“Put me down,” Oikawa demanded.

“So childish,” Iwaizumi scolded, but set his friends back on his feet gently and a little bit gratefully. He wondered if Oikawa had noticed when his arms started to shake.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whined again.

“Oikawa.”

“Let’s go to you’re house. Can we?” He pleaded. Iwaizumi couldn’t understand why, but Oikawa’s eyes were dead serious, and despite his exhaustion, it was clear that he would fight for this.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Iwaizumi said. “It’s closer, anyway.”

“Yeah, it’s closer,” Oikawa repeated, as if that had been his reasoning all along. But Iwaizumi knew Oikawa well enough to know that something like that would’t have made him so adamant. As Oikawa sneezed three times in a row, Iwaizumi decided to drop it for now.

“Ah!” Oikawa shouted suddenly. He tried to say something, but was cut off by a sneeze he tried again.

“I forgot-“

Sneeze.

“To get-“

Sneeze. Iwaizumi waited.

“Takeru!” Oikawa sneezed one last time and then turned to Iwaizumi with tear-filled eyes. “He’ll be waiting for me all alone! Iwa-chan, what time is it? I’ll have to run!”

“Oh, no you won’t,” Iwaizumi grabbed Oikawa’s shirt as an extra precaution.

“But Iwa-chan!”

“Don’t worry about it. He’ll be at his after-school program for another twenty minutes, and I just sent my mom a text to have her pick him up when she gets my sisters. They go to the same school, remember?”

Oikawa’s face lit up. “Iwa-chan, you’re the best!”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi grumbled in embarrassment. “Let’s just get back as soon as possible,” he says. He pointed to the sky.

“Looks like it’s gonna rain.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Oikawa said.

No more than five minutes passed before the rain began to fall. Oikawa immediately started shivering uncontrollably, and Iwaizumi stopped to throw his own jacket over his sick friend.

“I’m f-fine, I-Iwa-chan,” Oikawa protested, but Iwaizumi ignored him.

“Man, your hair looks awful when it gets wet. No wonder you always feel the need to make it look perfect.”  

Oikawa’s eyes widened in protest. “So mean! I think I look perfect no matter what!”

“That’s ‘cause you have bad taste.”

“Iwa-chan, you’re the worst!”

Iwaizumi just smiled at his friend’s contradictory statements and attempted to hurry him along so that they could get to the house and dry off as soon as possible.

When, at last, they reached his house, both boys are drenched. After a moment of hesitation, Iwaizumi treaded through the empty building in search of towels, and by the time he found some, he’d left a trail of water throughout the better part of he house. He returned to Oikawa to give him his towel, with the intent of letting his friend dry off while he cleans up the water, but Oikawa simply held on to the towel with a blank stare. With a sigh, Iwaizumi dried him off before moving onto himself, and then he gently pulled Oikawa to the couch before joining him under a heavy blanket. Oikawa was no longer smiling, and Iwaizumi was more than a little concerned. Oikawa has always had a habit of zoning out in his own world on occasion, but it had been a long time since Iwaizumi had seen that false smile fall for such an extended period of time. He waved a hand in front of his friend’s face.

“Earth to Oikawa, Earth to Oikawa…”

Oikawa took a shuddering breath, and tried to force a smile. Iwaizumi hates when Oikawa tries not to cry. It’s far worse than his ugly crocodile tears. This means it’s serious. Iwaizumi sighed, and spoke in a low voice.

“Cut the crap, Tooru. You don’t have to pretend when you’re sick, and you never have to pretend when it’s just you and me. You know that.”

With the way Oikawa looked at him, intent, calculating, and maybe a little less guarded than normal, Iwaizumi thought he might actually talk, for once, but the rattling of keys from the door startles both of them, and by the time the twins were running into the house, Oikawa’s stupid smile was back. Iwaizumi scowled at him, but Oikawa just grinned right back with a shrug.

When one of the twins slipped on the wet hardwood floor both children immediately started wailing.

“Haijime! You know better than to track water-“ Iwaizumi’s mother stopped her scolding when she saw her son and his best friend on the couch. Oikawa was still visibly shaking, and suddenly she began scolding her son for a different reason.

“Oh my! Haijime, how could you bring him out in the rain when he’s so sick. Poor Tooru-chan! I’ll make you some tea.”

“Oh, no, that’s not necessary Mrs. Iwaizumi, really,” Oikawa grinned.

“It most certainly is. Haijime, stay right there and make sure he doesn’t try to get up and do something ridiculous.”  
  
Iwaizumi looked at Oikawa and smirked, as if to say: You wanted to come to my house. This is what you get. Unsurprisingly, Oikawa ignored him and attempted to get up, as if to stretch, but Iwaizumi noted an evil gleam in his eye.

“Man, I am so hungry! I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch time!”

Iwaizumi’s eyes narrowed, but his head whipped to the side as his mother responded right away. “Haijime! How could you not make him some soup immediately?”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and looked at Oikawa questioningly, wondering if his appetite really has returned.

“He wasn’t hungry earlier, Mom.”

Oikawa pouted. “How would you know, Iwa-chan, you never asked me!”

Iwaizumi has had just about enough of this bullshit. It wasall he can do to stay seated on the couch with Oikawa, so he didn't bother to reply.

Entertained for the moment by teasing his friend, Oikawa took an excruciatingly long time with his tea. When Iwaizumi flipped him the bird, Oikawa easily feigned ignorance.

Finally, he finished his tea. Iwaizumi’s mom was making soup, but Iwaizumi couldn't wait any longer. He grabbed Oikawa by the front of his shirt.

“Ah!” Oikawa shouted. “Iwa-chan, where are we going? Mrs. Iwaizumi, help, I’m being kidnapped!”

“Be gentle, Haijime,” was all she said in response, and Iwaizumi was grateful. His mother was sharp, and though she pretended to favor Oikawa when he was in her home, she could tell when things are getting serious. She loved Oikawa as if he were her own, and she just wanted her two oldest children to be happy. “I’ll bring the soup up when it’s ready in about a half hour,” she added, cleverly giving her son a time limit. He nodded to her before ascending the stairs whilst dragging a weakly resisting Oikawa behind him.

When they entered his room, Iwaizumi practically threw Oikawa on his bed and shut the door behind him. Oikawa avoided eye-contact as Iwaizumi approached him.

“Hey, Trashykawa, look at me.” He refused. “Tooru.”

And suddenly there were tears in the eyes staring at Iwaizumi and he wasn't sure if he can handle this mess. “Iwa-chan, I-“

Knowing that whatever is about to come out of his mouth is stupid and pitiful and probably an apology, Iwaizumi wrapped his arms around his friend in an attempt to smother his words. For a moment the other boy pulled away. However, after a long, tense second passed, Oikawa fell into him like a rag doll, and cried silently, shaking.  “It’s okay,” Iwaizumi mumbled, rubbing his best friend’s back. “It’s okay, Tooru.”

When Oikawa said, “I’m getting snot on your shirt, Iwa-chan,” Iwaizumi correctly took that as his cue to pull back. It was time to talk this out.  

"You know I don’t care about that. Tooru, you need to tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m sick,” Oikawa stated.

“Uh, yeah, I knew that. Most people don’t break down like that when there sick.” Iwaizumi’s eyes drifted towards Oikawa’s still-shaking, slim fingers. They kept fidgeting. Iwaizumi put his hands over them. “Tooru, talk. Now.”

“I just feel- I mean, it’s like- I guess-“ Oikawa struggled with the words. That’s the thing. He can trust his best friend. He knew that.  He wanted to tell him what’s going on, wanted there to be no secrets between them. But it was also absolutely overwhelming. It was impossible to find a logical place to start because there just wasn't one.

“Iwa-chan, I can’t,” Oikawa said, voice cracking on his friend’s nickname, and Iwaizumi seemed to understand.

“You can. You just need to start somewhere. You don’t need to worry about telling me everything, just tell me something.”

Oikawa took a deep breath and started again, with the first thing that comes to mind.

“I- I’m useless.”

“How could you think that?” Iwaizumi asked, genuinely.

“How could you not?” Oikawa shot back with just as much honesty. Iwaizumi acknowledged that he’s serious. And also that this is just one of the most surface-level concerns that his friend had. Iwaizumi closed his eyes and braced himself for the upcoming battle.

“Oikawa… Tooru… You are our team’s captain. You know that. You drive us, you hold us up. You are our setter. You enhance our abilities. You know that. You take Takeru to school. You hold him up, too. You help him with his homework - no, you never told me that, but I know you do - you enhance his abilities.” Iwaizumi looks directly into Oikawa’s eyes. “We need you on the team. Is that not enough? If it isn’t, Takeru needs you as an uncle and a friend. Is that not enough? If it isn’t, well… I need you, if that’s any help. You’re insecure, and fake, and too beautiful to be true, and you can be a real idiot, but you are my wall. You don’t think that you do much for me, but if you weren’t here, I’d be alone. Isn’t it the same for you, if I were gone? And Tooru, it’s the same thing as it always is with you: you make me better. Is this enough?”

Iwaizumi didn't need to ask the last time. He could tell, by the way Oikawa’s breathing had evened out, by the way the shaking had started to calm, by the way his hands had stopped fidgeting, by the near-clarity in his eyes, that Oikawa was okay. At least for now. For now is all that matters, at the moment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idk why I love torturing Oikawa so much...

Thankfully, Oikawa recovered from his cold fairly quickly, considering its severity; he was back on the court within two days (although Iwaizumi didn’t exactly approve of this). He was back to flaunting his good looks and being a baby in the normal way the morning after he slept at Iwaizumi’s house.  Then he continued sleeping at Iwaizumi’s house.

Iwaizumi became slightly concerned.

“Oikawa,” he said one day while his friend was practicing his serves at ten o’clock at night.  They had become consistently accurate, but Oikawa wanted to make them more powerful.  “Aren’t your parents worried about you?”

Oikawa didn’t stop his practice to respond, but Iwaizumi took note of the fact that his next serve went straight out of bounds.

Oikawa laughed.  “Don’t worry, Iwa-chan!  I told them that I’m staying at your house, and they were glad because they’re out of town.”

Knowing that it would make him uncomfortable, Iwaizumi purposely stared at his friend without speaking for longer than normal.  Giving his lie away, Oikawa’s eyes flickered to the floor without his conscious consent and he cursed his stupid nervous habit.

“Oikawa…”  Iwaizumi prompted with raised eyebrows.  Oikawa grinned.

“Okay, okay, I get the hint - I’ll go home tonight!”

Iwaizumi frowned. This was not what he wanted. If Oikawa didn’t want to go home, then he could stay at Iwaizumi’s house for as long as he liked.

“Hey, you know that’s not what I meant!” He protested, but Oikawa had already returned his focus to his serves, and ignored this last comment entirely. “Hey, Shittykawa, what’s going on? Why don’t you want to go home?”

But Oikawa brushed this off. “I just love Iwa-chan so much that I don’t want to leave him!”

Iwaizumi flinched. Oikawa’s flippant use of the word love bothered him as much as Oikawa was bothered by Iwaizumi’s hard stares. With the way he blew through girlfriends and flings, Iwaizumi wondered if Oikawa could feel real love towards anyone and his heart clenched for his friend.

“Whatever, Trashykawa,” Iwaizumi mumbled, suddenly too exhausted to continue his investigation of his friend’s motives.  Oikawa mock-pouted.

“Why is Iwa-chan so mean to me?” He whined.

“Because you’re a dumbass who doesn’t know when to call it quits.  Let’s go home, it’s late.”

Oikawa looked down at the volleyball he cradled in his arms and his expression settled into a soft smile that made Iwaizumi feel very far away, despite having not moved an inch.

“You go on ahead, Iwa-chan. I’m going to practice a bit more.”

Iwaizumi hesitated, and Oikawa noticed.

“Go home, Iwa-chan. Your mother will worry if you don’t.”

As if on cue, Iwaizumi’s phone started ringing, and after about a minute, it became clear that it wasn’t going to stop any time soon.  He didn’t even need to look to know that it was his mother.  He scowled at his friend.

“She’s worried about you, too, you know. Probably more so than me, considering I’m far more trustworthy,” he taunted.  Oikawa just looked at him with that frighteningly distant smile of his and shook his head.

“Not if you go home and let her know that I’m going home, too.”

Iwaizumi grit his teeth, understanding that at this was one of those times when Oikawa’s actions were out of his control. “You want me to lie to my mother for you?”

Oikawa shrugged. “If you really think she’s that worried about me, but it probably isn’t necessary.  If you want, you can be honest and tell her I’m simply not worth her concern.”

As Oikawa went back to serving the volleyball, Iwaizumi’s stomach dropped. 

“Oi, Shittykawa. Don’t ever say that again.” So frustrated that he could no longer stand the sight of Oikawa and his stubbornness, Iwaizumi turned and walked away. For all of his anger, though, he didn’t miss the way the sound of the volleyball hitting the court paused for half a second longer than normal, and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but hope that he wasn’t imagining it, and that his words actually reached the his stupid, obsessive, disobedient friend.

Iwaizumi’s anger didn’t fade until he was about halfway home.  And then he realized that he was  the stupid one, for he’d fallen into Oikawa’s trap.  He scowled, turned on his heel, and then called his mom to tell her he was going to be home a bit later than expected.

By the time he returned to the gym, it had fallen into a foreboding silence, despite the fact that the lights were still on.  Iwaizumi attempted to convince himself that Oikawa was only taking a short break as he approached, but even as he did so the pit of his stomach dropped.

When he entered and saw Oikawa writhing on the floor, the thought his heart stopped.

In a second he was by his side, asking what’s wrong, what happened, what hurts - but he received no response, except for Oikawa’s seemingly desperate struggles to get away from him.

“Oi, Oikawa, calm down. I promise I won’t get mad at you, I just want to know you’re -“

Iwaizumi broke off as he realized that his friend’s eyes were shut, and hadn’t once open since he’d arrived. He sucked in a sharp, surprised breath, and shook Oikawa once to confirm.  Yes, he was sleeping.

“Ah, Oi- Oikawa. Oi, wake up already!” He shook him with increasing vigor and yelled a bit louder, and Oikawa continued his attempt to run away, even in his sleep.  “Shittykawa! Open your eyes, it’s just a dream!”

It was a pinch that did it. When his clarity of thought returned to him, Iwaizumi remembered the simple trick, and it worked. But it didn’t solve everything.

“Stop!”  Oikawa shrieked in a high-pitched voice as he woke up. “Let me go!”

He was on high alert from the moment his eyes flew open, blurry still with sleep, and scrambled to the wall on the opposite side of the gym immediately.  Iwaizumi held up his arms and froze where he was.

“Oikawa, please. Calm down.  It’s just me, Iwa-“

“-Chan!”  Oikawa finished, mood suddenly shifting.  He laughed and Iwaizumi detected the nerves behind it. “Did I scare you? Sorry, it was just-“

“A joke?” Iwaizumi interrupted. “No fucking way. Don’t you fucking lie to me, Oikawa. Drop the act.”

Oikawa’s smile faded a bit, and Iwaizumi’s hopes rose.

Then Oikawa teasingly said, “No, not a joke, Iwa-chan,” and Iwaizumi realized he’d been mistaken. This was going to be more difficult than he’d thought.  “It was just a little nightmare,” Oikawa explained, quick to brush it off. Iwaizumi’s temper flared, but he swore not to let it get the best of him this time.    He took a deep breath and proceeded as calmly as he could manage.

“Okay.  That’s fine.  What was it about?”

“Losing a volleyball game,” Oikawa replied a second too quickly while looking at the floor in front of him.

“Uh-huh.  I already told you not to lie to me Shittykawa. Spit out the truth. Why did you freak out when I touched you?”

The color drained from Oikawa’s face and the smile he plastered was eerily broken and forced. “Probably because you just thew a volleyball at my head in the dream.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. “Fine.  Whatever.  We’re leaving.” Oikawa stubbornly hesitated. Iwaizumi was surprised. Not so much by Oikawa’s stubbornness, though at this point it was getting to be a bit extreme, but by his own reaction to it.  By the fact that his anger failed to flare up this time, but instead was overwhelmed by concern that made his stomach flutter.  “Oikawa… Would you rather sleep here on the floor than at home?”

He watched in mute horror as Oikawa’s eyes glazed over and his mouth opened slightly, as if he might speak. Iwaizumi’s throat clenched up and he forgot to breathe.  And then his friend’s eyes cleared up and his slack mouth formed an infuriating, stubborn, highly-concerning smile.

“Sorry, Iwa-chan, I’m so tired I didn’t hear you.  What’d you say?”

Iwaizumi stared at his friend for a long second and came to a decision that kept him right where he wanted him: close.

“I said we’re having a sleep over. Come on.”  He grabbed Oikawa’s arm and dragged him out of the building, ignoring the surprise on his face and pretending not to notice the immense relief. It was, to say the least, disarming to see someone so inherently transparent trying to hide something from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this sucks :/ I've been too tired to really proofread lately, but felt like since I've been stress-writing, I should at least post something. Hopefully it's alright ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


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